A Checklist For Judgments

Every judgment is a situation, where anything can
happen. Some proposed
judgments are settled in court and do not become final.
In such cases,
even though the creditor had to settle, they did far
better than most
judgment creditors do; because they actually
got paid something.
Most judgment
owners do not get paid at all, or only get partially
paid over time.

This article is my opinion, and not legal advice. I am
a judgment broker,
and am not a lawyer. If you ever need any legal advice
or a strategy to
use, please contact a lawyer.

For judgments to have any value, they must pass this
checklist of six tests:

1) The judgment was not settled or satisfied.

2) Was not dismissed or vacated.

3) The debtor did not get bankruptcy protection.

4) The judgment did not expire.

5) When the debtor is an individual, they did not die
or move overseas.
Or, if you sued a company that has dissolved or is now
out-of-business,
the judgment usually becomes worthless.

6) The debtor continues to have available assets. and, when
debtors are old, it
usually becomes much more difficult to recover
judgments against them.

While a judgment continues to pass these six checklist
items, there is a
chance to either sell it for a big discount, or attempt to
recover it
yourself, or find a judgment recovery solution. A judgment
broker saves creditors a
lot of time, if they can accept reality.

If a judgment is not purchased, settled, or recovered
quickly; there is a
big chance nothing will ever be recovered from it. Over
time, most
creditors go through these four stages:

1) Dreamland: Even though most judgments are worth only
a small fraction
of the debtor's available assets on a cash upfront
sale; many creditors
contact everyone they can find, to try to sell their
judgment for cash
upfront and get paid as much as they can. Most will
never get paid, and
will find a lot of liars and flakes on the web.

2) Very hopeful: Where things still look promising; as
creditors try to
recover the judgment, or find a buyer for some amount
of cash upfront, or
find a recovery expert.

3) Somewhat hopeful: Even though the judgment cannot be
sold for cash or
recovered right away; there is a chance that money
might be recovered in
the future.

4) Hopeless for now: Looks bleak.
In this economy,
most judgments are now hopeless. Many creditors have trouble
accepting this conclusion.